Kitchen Accidental

by Nancy Evans

Photograph: Photo: Yasu & Junko

I don’t know if it was having the time I never had when I was working nonstop or having a friend I wanted to make happy or seeing Julie & Julia or believing the Barefoot Contessa when she said, “How easy is that?” or just the voice of age that said, “If not now, when?” But it all propelled me to a place I never thought I’d be: in the kitchen, the sun setting, the radio playing, the oven baking and me thinking, This is one of the coolest things I’ve ever done.

Postscript The next time I cooked, I started a fire by leaving recipes I’d cut out of magazines on the toaster oven while I was toasting coconut flakes as a condiment for butternut squash soup. But that’s when I learned what kitchen fire extinguishers are for. And now that the recipes are charred and curled like antique maps, I’m treating myself to my first very own cookbook.